MK-7337

MK-7337 is a novel, high-affinity, radioactively labeled small molecule positron emission tomography (PET) tracer developed for in vivo imaging of pathological alpha-synuclein fibrils, a hallmark of Parkinson's disease and other synucleinopathies. Unlike earlier PET tracers, MK-7337 demonstrates subnanomolar binding affinity and high selectivity for aggregated fibrillar alpha-synuclein over monomeric synuclein, amyloid-beta, and tau, with negligible off-target effects in postmortem brain tissue and preclinical models. In first-in-human studies, [11C]MK-7337 enabled visualization of alpha-synuclein pathology in idiopathic Parkinson's disease patients, particularly showing elevated tracer uptake in the substantia nigra, brainstem (pons), and olfactory epithelium, regions affected in Parkinson’s disease. The tracer is intended as a quantitative biomarker for research, diagnostics, and potential therapeutic monitoring in Parkinson’s disease and related disorders[1][2][3][4][7].